When Life Gives You Lemons
by Mike1234
Summary: My first fanfic and the first thing I've uploaded to this site. About the adventures and misadventures of a young adult named Alex who's just moved out of his mother's home and into Sunset Valley.
1. On my Own

"Alex!"

"I'm coming mom!" he hollered. He stepped through the open door of a medium sized, two-story building that he called home. Or at least, had called home. After almost twenty-five years he was finally moving out, planning to settle in a small and affordable bungalow located beside the beach. There he planned to fish and write as much as possible, now that he was no longer hassled by nagging parents and nosy neighbours.

Alex made his way downstairs and smiled as he caught his mother holding two things in her hands. One was a small trout he had caught when he was very small, mounted on a hardwood case with the engraving **Alex's First Catch**. The trout, although important and meaningful to him, paled in comparison to an old photograph taken by his late grandfather. The picture was in black and white, thanks to his love for all vintage and retro things. The picture was one of him as a child holding the diminutive trout on his fishing line, and a tall man with broad shoulders and a protruding belly with wide grin on his face. In his youth, Artyom Carlyle was a spitting image of his son, chestnut coloured hair and deceiving grey eyes that had a mischievous but well-intentioned twinkle.

"I thought you'd like to take these things with you to Sunset Valley." His mother smiled, a small but genuine smile that portrayed the sadness and happiness she felt. Her only child, her baby boy was moving out, far from the small city he grew up in. Alex knew that finding the picture and trophy must have stirred up memories in herself as well, memories of his father who had gone missing on his last trip to Al Simhara. Many people, including him, had accepted that Artyom was gone. His mother however was a stubborn woman who loved her husband too much to accept something as impersonal as 'he lived the last of his days doing something he loved Kendra.' Although she was several years younger than her husband, Alex began to notice the wrinkles on his mother's face and the grey lines that grew along with his mother's natural black hair.

He took the items from his mother and stared at them before wrapping himself around her. "Thanks a lot mum. I'm going to miss you."

"Me too Alex," his mother said, her voice struggling not to burst out crying.

"You sure you're okay with me doing this?"

His mother nodded, wiping away a tear and patting his shoulders. "Alex honey please, we've already had this discussion six-"

"Seven."

"-Seven times." Alex nodded before giving his mom one last hug and a kiss on the cheek. He made his way out of the house and to his car, closing the trunk and taking one last look before getting inside. The engine roared and the trout rattled with the picture frame as the car took off down the road. _So long old life._


	2. I Know This Girl

"Hello?"

"Dude! Heard you finally moved out man! Why the hell didn't you no-ti-fy me?"

Alex let out a chuckle as he placed the last box of his belongings into the living room of his new house. Judging by the excited voice and the odd way of saying 'notify,' he was more than certain the caller was R.J. Lee, a charismatic bodybuilder who was Alex's primary source of misfortune, embarrassment and his best friend. Even though R.J. was always up to something sneaky or stupid, such as dating a pair of twins or duct taping the junior members of the city football team to the bleachers, he was always willing to cover Alex's back, whenever and whatever the problem. He had moved into Sunset Valley a couple months ago and had been a major, if not aggressive, factor to Alex's move.

"Sorry man I just moved in."

"Nah it's all cool man…hey I got an idea. Why don't we have a little house warming pa-"

"Stop," Alex interrupted. "I know what you're going to say and the answer is no."

"Why not man?" his friend whined.

"I haven't even unpacked yet RJ. Besides I don't know anyone and you of all people know that I'm a dead man walking when it comes to socializing." His friend groaned before attempting again, this time adding the chances of girls being part of the company he brought over. Alex was silent for a minute before he shook his head. Although he enjoyed girls as much as his friend, he needed serious practice in actually striking up a conversation with them. He had little female friends back in his old town and even fewer girlfriends. Most he had dated briefly during his teen years-only one of them he would actually end up kissing.

He rolled his eyes at his friend's attempt at not laughing, followed by a mental picture of RJ shaking his head, closing his eyes and slapping his knee.

"Anything else you wanted to phone for then RJ?"

The line went silent for a moment before RJ spoke up. "Alright man, one last thing I promise...and you got to promise me you'll at least consider what I'm going to say…so no outright-"

"RJ the offer is?"

"Damn you got to stop doing that Alex…ruins the fun," RJ chuckled. "Seriously though I have this friend who's been wanting to meet you ever since she saw you on my MySim* profile. And since you don't want to throw that party, I'm asking if you'd at least get to know her, you know go for coffee, beach…"

"So like a blind date sort of thing?"

"Please and thank you bro? She just went through a nasty break up man and well…she's really cool chick when you get to know her."

Alex shook his head before turning back to his unattended boxes. "God I'm going to regret this RJ…"

"Thanks bro!" his friend exclaimed. "I promise you she's a real keeper, okay got to go peace! Thanks again!" Before Alex could protest, the line went dead. He shook his head before putting his cell phone back into his pocket, grabbing the trout and gazed at the walls, wondering where he could place his trophy.

* * *

Several hours later Alex let out a satisfied breath. His house was now clean and furnished with all the essentials the money he saved could buy. He plopped onto the couch and closed his eyes, telling himself he did a good job and now deserved to catch a wink or two of sleep. He could always lie down on his bed but he knew the minute he did he would fall asleep and wake up somewhere around four to five am. For a few minutes everything was quiet, only the rhythm of the wall clock ticking back and forth could be heard.

Sadly the peaceful atmosphere didn't last, being broken the minute the doorbell sounded. Alex groaned before forcing himself to his feet_. _He took his time getting to the door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he put he hand on the knob.

"Hi." Alex's eyes widened as a pretty young woman with green eyes and wavy blonde hair waved at him. She offered him a small smile before pointing to a house behind her. "I couldn't help noticing you just moved in here mister..."

"Alex," he said. "Alex Carlyle actually, just moved in here from Small Town* miss..."

"Gina," she said outstretching her hand. "Gina Hughes and as you can see I live right over there." As they shook hands, Alex felt a twinge of regret at the golden wedding ring on her hand. "My husband's out in the town with my kids so I decided to drop by and welcome you to the neighborhood."

Alex nodded to her before opening his door a bit wider. "Well thank you very much Gina...you can come in if you like."

"I'd like to," she said. "But I have to get dinner ready for them. With the kids and their dad at the Springs, they probably spent most of their fishing or at least trying to." she laughed a bit when she said this, causing Alex to laugh a little as well.

"Alright then, maybe some other time?"

"We'd love to. Well see you around Alex." She waved goodbye before making her way back to her house. Shy as Alex was, he couldn't help but stare at her, jealous at the lucky guy who called that girl his wife. "Man...RJ would be drooling if he saw her." he mused. He chuckled before heading back inside, smiling as he mentally pictured Gina's cute bum. _That dude is one lucky son of a gun._

*As you can probably tell, I made these two things. MySim is a play on for Myspace and Little Town is made up because I'm not sure what other name to pick.


End file.
